President Obama recently nominated Bucknell University graduate J. Patricia Wilson Smoot ’85 for Commissioner of the United State Parole Commission (USPC), which is part of the Department of Justice. She has been the chairman of the USPC since 2015 and has held a position of commissioner on the USPC since first gaining Senate confirmation in 2010. Smoot was previously the Deputy State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County (Md.) from 2002 to 2010.
Smoot has a bachelor’s degree in English from Bucknell as well as a J.D. from Catholic University of American Columbus School of Law.